U-Haul is proud to announce a partnership with Peter Cunningham and his RealTime Racing team as he tackles the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Cunningham will make the journey to the top in Acura’s latest creation the TLX GT race car on June 25th in Colorado Springs Colorado.
The Race
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wefvhkm9fWI?ecver=2
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb also known as The Race to The Clouds is the second oldest motorsport event in America. Only the Indianapolis 500 has been around longer. The first Pikes Peak Hill Climb was held on 1916. Founder Spencer Penrose converted the narrow carriage road into the much wider Pikes Peak Highway creating the race track. Rea Lentz took home the first Penrose Trophy with a time of 20:55.60. The current record is held by Sebastien Loeb in 2013 with a time of 08:13.87. The starting lines sits at 9,390 feet of elevation, there are 12.42 miles, 156 turns and 4,725 feet of vertical rise. The competitors finally cross the finish line at 14,115 feet above sea level. As the driver’s race towards the summit, the thin air slows reflexes and drains muscle strength. On top of that, the thin air also takes away 30% of the car engines power. Both the drivers and race cars need to be in top shape to finish let alone win. This race attracts many race crews around the world because there is no other course in the world like it. At Pikes Peak, you can truly be called the “King of the Mountain”
The Driver and Car
Peter Cunningham, while a rookie to the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, is a decorated American race car driver and the owner of RealTime R&L, Inc. Through 2013, he has won 91 professional races across 12 different road racing series and holds a number of World Challenge records. His name and his team have become interchangeable with the Acura brand so it’s no surprise he’ll make his debut competing in the Open class in the Acura TLX GT race car. The car features a twin-turbo V-6 that has power routed to all four wheels. These additional modifications needed to be performed to get maximum results. To deal with the thin air the race car needed new engine mapping, revised suspension, and a more aggressive aero package.
How U-Haul Got involved
As the race date drew closer Peter Cunningham and his RealTime Racing team knew they would need help moving all of their equipment and items from Fan Fest to the starting line. With U-Haul being the moving experts, we offered our helping hand by providing them with a moving truck to carry all of their items. Additionally, Peter and his team were kind enough to place our logo on the Acura TLX GT race car.
The SuperGraphic
To show our support for Peter Cunningham and his RealTime Racing team in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb we created a SuperGraphic with the same Acura TLX GT that you’ll see in the race. Our SuperGraphics program was created 20 years ago as a salute to the United States and Canada. Since then it has evolved and grown but the focus of the program has remained giving thanks and paying tribute to North American communities. To mirror the same message as our other SuperGraphics we created the Acura TLX GT race car SuperGraphic as a way of giving back and saying thank you for the partnership. The day of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb you can see the truck in person. If you’re attending make sure to take a picture in front of it and hashtag the photo #uhaulfamous. At the conclusion of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb race, the truck will return to Peter Cunningham’s hometown of Milwaukee Wisconsin and go into the one-way truck fleet for our customers to enjoy.
Make sure to tune in on June 25th to watch the race. You can watch a live stream of the race on the Red Bull TV website. The green flag drops at 8 AM local time so make sure to set your alarm clocks.
Have you watched the Pikes Peak race? Tell us your experience in the comments below.
